Pros and cons of recurve blades please.

D

Dr sharp

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Oct 20, 2003
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I just picked up a kershaw chive with a recurve blade. I like the knife alot except, im curious when it comes time to sharpen; is it very hard to sharpen a recurve blade. It seems like it would be. Thanks for the input guys.
 
It's somewhat more hard to sharpen a recurve...advantage is that recurves slice like crazy. Take a recurvade blade and a carboard box. Saw on it....look at how much farther the blade goes in with that "bump" hits the box. Very efficient.
 
The way I see it the recurves will cut better due to the shape of the blade but when it does come time to sharpen it it will be take a bit more focus to do it right.

Right now the only recurved blade I have is fully serrated and it cuts like no tomorrow.
 
Here's an example of a good affordable one.
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Alot of recurves don't really provide much of a tip, especially full recurved blades like the Commander, EDC, etc. However, I think that the overall design of the recurve way overcomes this small setback.
Matt
 
I don’t much care for recurves on blades under about 8”- they always seem to be curved the wrong way when I use them…guess I am used to blades with bellies that only curve out. Recurves are harder to sharpen on bench stones, but are no problem on a SharpMaker.
 
Jazzman said:
Alot of recurves don't really provide much of a tip, especially full recurved blades like the Commander, EDC, etc.
Click to expand...

It also depends on whether the spine profile is a drop-point or clip-point. Clip-point recurves can still sport fairly narrow points.

--Bob Q
 
The only recurve that I have is an Emerson PSARK. I've for many a year considered myself an expert sharpener, but that doggone PSARK almost made me lose my religion (being both a recurve and a chisel grind).

However, I got an EZE-LAP folding sharpener (oval cross section) and a Big John Crock Stick (from Smoky Mountain Knife Works) and my sanity was soon restored. Now I feel confident in sharpening this just like my other knives.
 
I have found recurves slice better, and I have not found them to be that hard to sharpen either.
 
Troll Bait From Hell said:
The only recurve that I have is an Emerson PSARK. I've for many a year considered myself an expert sharpener, but that doggone PSARK almost made me lose my religion (being both a recurve and a chisel grind).

However, I got an EZE-LAP folding sharpener (oval cross section) and a Big John Crock Stick (from Smoky Mountain Knife Works) and my sanity was soon restored. Now I feel confident in sharpening this just like my other knives.
Click to expand...

the PSARK is a hawkbill, isn't it?
 
The biggest con is sharpening difficulty. A Spyderco Sharpmaker 204 is your best friend if you've got a recurve blade.

The advantage, as others have said, is slicing ability. With a recurve blade you get belly like a regular knife for push cutting, but get (some of) the pull cutting ability of a hawkbill. Even a slight recurve can add quite a bit of cutting power.
 
Planterz said it all. Personally though, I prefer a strong recurve. The relatively small increase in cutting power of a slight recurve is not worth for me the headache of sharpening it. Because you can forget about sharpening any recurve on a benchstone. You need a sharpmaker or a slipstones for that. Once you have a recurve in a blade I think it doesn't really matter anymore: a small recurve is as hard (or easy) to sharpen as a stronger recurve, really no difference. Also, a recurve ads edgelength, the stronger the recurve the more edge you get. And you usually get a bigger belly with a bigger recurve as well. So my vote goes to either no recurve or a "dramatic" one.

I am really excited about the Kershaw Offset (can't wait till it becomes available) The front can be maintained with a regular stone and the recuved part you can maintain on a Sharpmaker. You have a bit of a belly in the front and the point that marks the transition between the front and the back of the blade should add tremendous cutting power.
 
I posted a while ago about a way to get almost all of the benefits of a recurve without the sharpening hassle. The "front" part of the recurve is really the business end. The rear part, where it curves back down--making benchstone sharpening impossible--doesn't actually do much.
 
I might be misinterpreting what you're saying here, as these things are a bit hard to imagine, but if I hear you correctly the part inbetween the handle and the "bump" (recurve) before the tip sees less use. When I use my recurve, that's the part I use the most...I kind of use the bump as a giant serration and saw something down using my one big obtuse tooth.

On a side note, you guys should check out that Kershaw storm I posted earlier...kind of a sleeper knife, which, though imperfect, is really an amazing tool for 35ish...great action, flipper, good materials, and that blade is even more impressive in real life. Also comes in tanto. I will eventually buy my own, but I often play with one of my friend's.
 
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